The England wicketkeeping position is guaranteed to inspire debate. Everybody seems to have a view. The pragmatists back Geraint Jones, the purists favour Chris Read, and James Foster can’t be ruled out of the argument either. Yet increasingly the smart money is on a fourth option: Jones surviving at least until the World Cup before being replaced by a kid from Kidderminster.

The wheels on the Steven Davies bandwagon have gained speed. First there was the sudden call to reinforce England A in the Caribbean when Read was summoned home after a burglary (Davies was shopping in Kidderminster on the Thursday and keeping tidily in St Lucia on the Saturday). Then last weekend he scored 192 against Gloucestershire, the best innings of his career to date. He turns 20 on Saturday.

“I’m very cautious about talking up people,” says Steve Rhodes, Worcestershire’s coach and, happily for Davies, a former wicketkeeper himself. “It can put anyone under pressure, let alone someone who’s only 19 and really just starting in the game. But there’s a lot of talent there and I would be surprised if Davo didn’t come through, because he’s a genuine wicketkeeper and a genuine batsman.

“He’s a natural gloveman. His batting is quite graceful, a bit Goweresque in that he times the ball rather than thrashes it. Because he hits the ball in a relaxed way, sometimes when he gets out it looks awful.

“He could hit through the covers with no feet movement and everyone would say what a great shot it was, and nick the next ball and everyone would say he’s lazy. That’s exactly what Gower was criticised for.” After such a comparison, it hardly needs pointing out that he is a left-hander.

The past 10 days have encapsulated this streak. Davies’s innings against Gloucestershire stood out for its maturity and skill: patient in its beginning, explosive in its end, it was a model in how to build an innings. Then, against Somerset, after sitting as the next man in during a stand of 330 between Ben Smith and Graeme Hick, he missed out on some easy runs on a flat pitch by poking Dan Cullen’s quicker ball to point.

“If he was selected (for England) at this stage, I don’t think he’d let them down,” Rhodes says. “However, if he was selected in 18 months, maybe after the World Cup, he would be in a better state to cope. It would be good for him to do a bit of an apprenticeship. He has to make mistakes to learn.

“I think England will stand by Geraint Jones, certainly for the Ashes. I’m pretty sure (coach) Duncan Fletcher would love to have as many of the Ashes- winning guys in Australia as he can. They deserve it and I think he feels they deserve it. The media hype about changing the wicketkeeper could be tenfold and I don’t think it would change Duncan’s mind.

“But after the Ashes, if Geraint hasn’t had the best of tours, that could be a time for change. Geraint kept really well in the last Test (against Sri Lanka), but he knows he could have kept better over the past 18 months. He seems to be a well-liked member of a good side who are together as a unit.”

Davies isn’t your average batsman. He isn’t your average wicketkeeper either. It may be simply a facet of his inexperience, but he doesn’t see himself as a cheerleader. Many keepers — and Rhodes was one when he played for Worcestershire and, 11 times, for England — regard themselves as actors, extroverts, aggressors. Not Davies. If he is to win Fletcher over, he may have to change; one of the reasons Jones was preferred to Read was because he was seen as more upbeat, more positive.

“Davo’s a different character from me, Geraint, Alec Stewart or Jack Russell,” Rhodes said. “He’s got a good temperament, but prefers to go about his job quietly, which is not always easy for the team. We have had to find other people to rev up the troops.

“He’s quite a homely person, with strong family values, which is to be respected. They’re nice people, his mum and dad, and he’s close to his sister. His dad looks after his affairs. He doesn’t really drink.”

Early last year Davies captained England Under-19s on a tour of India, but it proved an unhappy experience. In difficult conditions, results went against the side and Davies was too quiet, perhaps, to pick them up. “I didn’t enjoy it,” he reflects. “It was not really me. We won only once and it was a long tour.”